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Child Abuse Statistics

At the close of each calendar year, the Department generates a Child Maltreatment Statistical Report of child abuse/neglect statistics by county. The report includes some additional information which may be helpful in summarizing the information in the report, including the DHS Service Area and the Judicial District.

Reports - Provides information regarding the number and disposition of maltreatment reports investigated by DHS. A single report may include multiple children, and each child may have multiple types of alleged maltreatment. If any of these allegations for any child is confirmed, the entire report is counted as a confirmed report. If any of the confirmed allegations conclude that the perpetrator should be placed on the child abuse registry, the report is counted as founded.

Unique Children - Provides a count of unique children by maltreatment level. Each child abuse report may have multiple children indicated, and a single child may have more than one abuse report in a given year. This section of the report indicates only the most adverse outcome for the child during the calendar year. If a child had multiple reports in multiple counties, that child would be counted in the county in which the most adverse outcome was recorded.

Duplicate Children - Because a child may be the alleged victim on more than one abuse report during the year, this section summarizes the total number of children by maltreatment level by county. If a child was on multiple reports in multiple counties, that child will be counted for each county and maltreatment outcome level indicated during the calendar year.

Type of Abuse - Provides a breakdown of confirmed/founded maltreatment by the abuse type. For each child on each report, up to 10 maltreatment types may be indicated. This spreadsheet summarizes the number of each type of allegation which was confirmed or founded for all child protective reports during the calendar year.

Age - Provides a breakdown by age for all confirmed/founded maltreatment victims. If a child had multiple reports during the year, the age is counted for the most adverse outcome experienced by the child. For a small number of victims, the date of birth information may be unavailable -- these victims are not classified.